Breech-closing mechanism



Feb 13,1923.

T. THORNYCF-QQFT BREEQH CLOSING MEChANISM Filed Sept.

Patented reel. 13,1923. i i iAdSA'Zh untrestates: v mom 'rnonNYonor'r',or wnsrmmsrnnpnnenenn.

BREEQH-CIJOSING MECHA ISM.

, Application filed September 11,1919. s iner 1T0. 323,211. i

Be itknown that I, ToM' THORNYGRQFT, a of .the charge containereifectually, closed, subject of thefKing. ef-Great Britain and thecartridge' fired' and the empty cartridge Ireland, residing. at the cityof Westminster, case, ejected, all in a rapidand; convenient 5 England,have invented Improvements inv manner, Breech-Closing Mechanism, ofwhich the onth p p th outer or b ch end following is a specification. Iv of the charge container is provided with fa In the specifications of,former' Patents movable breech-closingblockcarrying. the -No.1,320,659, No. 1,320,661, No. 1,328,021 firing ,deviceor' pistol, withhandfoperatjed; 10 and No. 1,340,689,there are described means mechanismi'orrnoving the breech blockfiiito for producing by thecombustion ofavproits open and closed positions and with a .pellant, such for.example as cordit e, gases cartridge ejector, the arrangement beingunder pressure for use in guns for throwsuch that upon movingthe handoperated i j til h f m l bombg, mechanism in one direction, the breechblocl'r depth charges and the'like and for .use will bemoved'intothe'open positionitoa'din torpedo launching cylinders. In suchmit,of'the'insertion'of'a cartridge ,inthe means or apparatus thepropellant is placed charge container, the rim on the cartridge in achamber, called the charge container, case acting to move the cartridgeejector into that is screwed into a gas receiver into which its;inoperative position; automatically. On 20 the gases produced by thecombustion under inovingthe said mechanism in the 'rei'rerse 'l I highpressure of the cordite charge, pass direction tl1ebreech'- ,block willbe moved and from which the gasesfiow at a lower into a 'osition toeile'ctuall'y close the breech pressure to the barrel of the gun, or. tothe end or the. ehargecon-tainer and bring the I torpedo launchingcylinder, as the case may firing device centrally over apercussion cap25 be. Usually the cordite charge has been on the'cartridge-readyforfiring the latter I To all whom it may concern: in place inthe chargecontainer,. the 50 made up as a cartridge that is inserted into and'onagain moving the mechanism iii-the 7 a the charge container through theinlet or firstdirection to open the breecln-after firing breech endthereof and held therein byfla the cartridge, thecartridge ejector'willf be firin device, commonly called ,a firing operated in such amanner as to cau se it to 7 30 pisto that is screwed into thebreech endejectthe empty cartridge case either parof the charge container, afterthe charge tially so t'hatijiticanjbe finally removed by has been placedin position, and afterwards hand, or completely to eject it from theunscrewed and removed to withdraw the chargec'ontainer. v emptycartridge case and admit of another Associated with the hand lever. isaspring 1 ,7 35 cartridgebeing inserted in the container. device adaptedto assist the'opening' ndf' v Inpractice it is found that, in somecases, closing. novenientsofthe breech'blo'cl particularly with dept-hcharge throwers Breech closing mechanism to act in the such as describedin thejsaid former speci manner described canbe constructedin ficationNo. 1,340,689, it would-be of great. various forms. p 40 advantage ifthecartridges could be insei-t- Associated with'the breech closing mechafedinthecharge container-and the empty nism may be'meanswhereby it canibereadcartridge cases extractechin a quicker and i15 ascertained by sightor touch, or both, more convenient manner than has heretowhether acartridge,is witl1in the charge vfore been practicable with theremovable container or not. H 4,5 firing pistol heretofore used. 1 Inthe accompanyingdraw ngs, Fig. 1 1s Now the present invention has forits oban elevation of one constructional form voi? ject to provide thecharge container. with mechanism embodymgthe nvention. F g. breechclosing mechanism so constructed that '2is'a central vertical sect on atright angles cordite or like cartridges can be inserted to Fig. 1, thebreech belng closed and Fig. 3 I

a is a fragmentary view of a portion of Fig.

it 2 with the parts in position, to permit a cartridge to be withdrawn".Fig. 4 is a. view similar to part of Fig. 3 .showing'a modification,with a Cartridge partly withdrawn.

Ashere shown the breech end portion of the 'cartridgecontainer a,'whic}1fis adapted tobe screwed into a "as receiver as'hereto-u the other endof which is jointed aty" to one fore, is provided wit ahead orholder 1)formed with a transverseguide-way c the opposite sides of whichare'formed' with a,

palrofinclined grooves d. Fitted to slide in the guideway 1s abreech1block theop 'posite sides of which areproyided with lugs ;or.extensions, not shown, arranged toslide endwa sin the said grooves. 1T0a; lateral extension I) "of the holder b" is pivoted, as

i at f,'one,'namely g, of the short arms of a lfshaped hand lever hptheothershort arm i of which is-jointed to; one end of a linkj 1 nd ofthefbreech block e. Tolthelateral" extension b iof.the holder 6 isfixedone end of a bent over spring blade Zr: arranged to 1 act against thearm go f thehand' lever h.

PiVOted tojthe holder bata at ap'oint be low the path of the breechblock 6, is a cartridge ,e]ectorj in' the f form of a bent lever 1m n;Thefre endof i m of thistle" verj tenninates close toj the inlet in'the'breech. end of the charge container athrough which I 'a cartridgeispassed, soas'tobe in'thepath of, the rim' 0" on the cartridge "ofinserted in thefcontainer which is formed with an annular' recess orshoulder a for such The free end Iofthe iotherarm 'ri'of the ejectorlever is arranged in the path of thebreech blockge so as to be'operatedby this block whenf being movedinto the. open position.

Thefibfreech bloc-ire carries a; firin device or; istolthatmay the kindescribed in -t e said former specificationNo. 1,340,689;

' The bodypi'ofsuch pistol may conveniently;

Jbefonned'inone piecefwi-th'the breech bloc v e, as shown, or itmaybeinadeseparate and be secured ,to the. block which, in'each case, is;formed with an' aperture p, conveniently of conical shape, through;which the firing Y ,pin p of the pistol can pass andfie'xpl'o'de thecapin the cartridge case when the breech "block lsclb l i ,The arrangementis such that when the to assume an angular position, 'cor:-,

the end of its travel'striking ,the outer end 3 h. of the ejectorleverm, also as to move-the I inserting a cartridge in place the chargeinner end m of such lever outwardf" Upon container 0, theilever h beinheld injthe 65,

opposite extreme position to t at shownin Fig.2, the rim 0 of thecartridgewillengage the inner end. m ofthe ejector lever, the latterreceding automatically in the act 0f closing'its breech. Upon moving.the hand; lever h in the reverse direction, the breech blockfe will becausedto move backwardand inward and, bear against the closed end of thecartridge and the surroundin ,seat on' the charge container a"*'(see-Fig. 2 and effectually close the breech end of such .container at-thesame time bringing the firing pin-of the pistol centrally over thecartridge,uponi; turning the hand lever vh sharply to withdraw the breehblocke and to open e b ree h','the sai'd' block will, after rcus,-. 1-sion cap in the cartridge 0. After firing the opening theb reechstrikethe outer 'end i'n of the ejector sharpl yfand' cause the innerend mjthereoftd-act.iquickly"onytherimfo' 0f the cartridge case' 'so asto cause the cartridge case, assisted by its inertia, to be with drawnfrom'jthej container, z-at least a sur ficient' extent to enable it; tobeheld bygth'e breech block '0 upon this block moving back- 1'wardtowards it which it will do by rebound under-the action of thespring-k when abruptly -relea'sed. In vthis position ofthe of thebreechblocln; The further removal of the cartridge case can be effectedby The bent springbl-adelc is, as shown, so arranged .in relation to thecorner '1 of the .breechfbloclcshown in Fig. 3,therim o on c 1 thecartridge ,0"bears against the outer side I lever arm 9. that it willassist the final-closing movement" of-the breech block when op} eratedby the hand lever, as indicated by the arrow in Fig. ,33 Well asassisting the opening movementifor a time until the spring engages theflat surface 9" between K the corners 1. Land'IQ of the'lever arm'afterwhich the spring blade acting on corner 2 tends to move the breech blocka in the closing'idirection, indicated in Fig 3."

"Or, instea d of moving back the breech block 'eto arrest the.partlywithdrawn car tridgecase, there may be fixed to the holder 'Z .as's'hownj in 'Figf i, one end of a bent spring b1adeg,;thef other and freeenfd of "which blade 'isadapted to projectinto the path' of the partlywithdrawn cartridge: case andfhold the case in .position-tofbe,

finally removed by hand'. 7

To enable it 'tov be' readily determined vhethe'r there is a cartridgeiw ithin 'thei chargecontainer a when the breechblock e is closed, thehand leverl it may, [the example shown, bem'ade tubular and j beprovidedlwith a pin acne end-of which is arranged to bearagain'sttheend/h of the ejector lever whilst" theother end' of the pin is acted'upon inan inward direction by a p spring, for instance a coiled springsheld in place by a cap it and 1s adaptedto extend through the outer endof the hand lever. In this case the end oi the breech block 6 that isadjacent to the end m of the ejector leverwhen the block is in itsclosed position (Fig. 2), is'formed with a recess int-o which the saidendm or" the ejector lever can pass, under the action'ot the springpressed-pin r, whennocartridge is in the charge container but out oiwhich it will be held, against the action ofthe whenthebreech block isfully moved into its closed position;

The safe working of the mechanism is provided for automatically by thefact that the percussion cap in the cartridge is only can be variouslyslightly larger in diameter than the point of the firing pin or hammerby which it is detonated so that unless the breech block is fully closedthe firing pin cannot strike the cap. J

.,The details ofconstruction of breech closing mechanism according tothe invention modified to suit require ment.

What I claim is Y I j v 1. The combination with the breech end of acartridge container having a holder with transverse guideway-therein,abreech block adapted to slide in said guideway and to co-act with saidholder to close the breech end of the container, a firing device carriedby said block and a cartridge ejec a adapted to be moved in onedirection upon inserting a cartridge in the container and in theaopposite direction by the block when moving into its open position, ofa hand operated lever having one end jointed to the holder, a linkconnection between another end of the lever and the block and a springadapted to assist both the opening and closing movements of the block;

2. The combination with the breech end oi" a cartridge container havinga holder with transverse guideway therein, a breech block adapted. toslide in said guideway and to coact with said holder to close the breechend of the container, and a cartridge ejector adapted to be moved in onedirection upon inserting a cartridge in the container and in theopposite direction by the block, and spring adapted oi a hand operandlever having ones-end jointed 'to the holder, betweeiranother end'of thelever and the to act against one for other corner of the end of thelever jointed to vtheholder "and thereby assist. theopening and closingmovements of the blo'clr when the lever is moving into blockwheninoving'r into its open position,

'65 a link connection positions to'respectively open and close thexBreech closing and opening mechanism according to claim :2, wherein thehand lever is of T shape, one of its short arms being jointed to theholder and its other short arm to the link and the spring is a bladespring fixed to the holder and ar ranged to act against one or other offlats tened corners of the lever arm jointed to theholder. v i

e. The combination with the breech end of a cartridge container providedwith a holder of a breech block adapted to slide' in said holder, acartridge ejectorjointed to the holder and havinggan arm arranged to proect into the path of the rim of a cartridge being inserted in thecontainer. and an arm arranged in the path of the block so as to bemoved by such block when moving intoits open position, a hand leverforopening and closing said block, and an indicating device carried bysaid hand lever and arranged to co-act with the cartridge ejector togive an indication whether or not a cartridge is in, the container, whenthe block 1S 1Il 1ts closed position. i

' 5. The combination with the breech end of a cartridge containersprovided with'a holder, of a breech closingblock adapted to slide insaid holder and formed with a recess, a cartridge ejector having an armadapted to be movedinto the recess in the block I and a second armarranged in the path of the block when the-block is moving into its openposition, a hand lever for mov mg the block into'its open and closedpositions and a spring controlled indicating de-:

vice carried by the hand lever andarranged to coact'withthe second armof the ejector which second armacts to hold the indicating device in oneor other of two positions' according to whether or not a cartridge iswithin the container, said first arm of the ejectorbeingheld out'of therecess inthe,

block by said cartridge, or, being free to be moved into such recess,when a cartridge is,

absent, by theindicating device. I i

y 6'. The. combination with the, breech end of a cartridge containerprovided with a holder, of a breech closing block adapted to slide insaid holder and formed with a recess, a two armed cartridge ejectorhaving one arm arranged to be engaged by therim cf a cartridge andcapable of'ehter'ihg saicl' recess. in the block when a cartridge isabagainstthe last mentioned ejector armys ubrs'talntiall'y asydescri'bed for the'purpose set 15 forth.

"7 Breechjclosing; mechanism according tc Clfllnl l 'whcrem a sprmgdevlce 1s arranged on'thems harge container adapted to hold a partially[ejected cartridge case 'until it can 20 I .beremoved-,by 'lmnd,substantially as de- {scribed I. f Signed-at Lendon', England thistwenty first dayTofAugust, 191 9.

' TOM TH RN QRQFT;

